Watch the Di Fara Documentary 'The Best Thing I Ever Done'

[widespreadpizza]

Peter,  I would add too that in my experience,  all trumps can have a very yellow color.  The bromate I am positive adds to the lightness as well.  -marc

[Jackie Tran]

Chau,

Dom told me. Everything I reported on the dough and the pizzas came either from Dom or from my own eyes. From the videos that Norma referenced, I can see that Dom went to other sources for some of his ingredients, like the oil (Colavita) and tomatoes. Some pizzas looked like they had lighter crusts but I did not think to check the dates of the videos to see if the pizzas were recent or not.

Peter

Thanks Peter, I just read that Dom told PFTaylor as well.   In the process, I somehow erased my old post by accident.   Thanks again, I'll read through the rest of reverse engineering Di Fara's pizza thread now. 

Chau

[Essen1]

Out of curiosity...does anyone know where Dom DeMarco is from in Italy?

Naples?

[Matthew]

Out of curiosity...does anyone know where Dom DeMarco is from in Italy?

Naples?

He's from Caserta, just outside of Naples.

[Essen1]

He's from Caserta, just outside of Naples.

Thank you, Sir.

[Essen1]

I found some more pics on Slice that might give anyone who wants to attempt to clone or reverse engineer DiFara's, which will give you and idea bout the characteristics of the crust and it's floppiness.

Also check out the two whole pies and how different they look...

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2009/03/locked-in-for-the-night-at-di-fara-pizza-midwood-brooklyn-nyc.html#continued

[Jackie Tran]

Thanks for the pictures Mike, those look tasty! 

I made a couple of Di Fara inspired pies today.   Crust was my own but I topped these with a mixture of block mozz, fresh mozz, and bufala mozz.   OO and baked.  Finished with a combination of grated parmesan and romano, and a healthy amount of basil. 

Ate these pies hot and they were fantastic.   This is the first time I mixed fresh mozz and bufala.  will definitely be doing this again. 

[Tscarborough]

Those are some beautiful and tasty looking pizzas.  Salute!

[Essen1]

Chau,

What did you put in those pies that they lasted from 01/03/2009 until today?? 

Great looking pies, bro!

[Pete-zza]

Chau,

Nice job. I'm sure in due course you will come up with a DiFara clone that is even better than the real one that Dom makes.

Peter

[Jackie Tran]

Thank you Tscarborough, Mike, and Peter.   

Good catch Mike.     My kids have been playing with the camera and must have reset the date and time. 

Peter that is very kind of you to say.  Someday I'll get around to trying all of the top places so I can compare them to my pies.  Until then these will have to do.     I'm sure Dom makes GREAT pizza and he deserves all the attention and press.  I really have a lot of respect for him.  He is a master of his craft and has a very kind soul as can be seen in the video and from reading PFTaylor's post about his visit with Dom.   

Respectfully,
Chau

[norma427]

Chau,

Your Di Fara inspired pies look delicious!    I am still smiling.     I am surprised no one asked you what formula you used to make those pies and how you baked them.

Norma

[PaulsPizza]

Chau, that pie looks amazing! Details?

This video is an absolute classic.

Paul

[Jackie Tran]

Thanks Norma & Paul.  Crust was a variation of my recent efforts.   Not exactly Di fara but similar. 

100% flour (50/50 blend of HG bromated flour and caputo pizzeria 00)
67% water
2.2% salt
0.05% IDY
2% oil (EVOO)

Minimally kneaded, bulked 10 hours at 75F, divided and balled, proofed for 6 hours.  Baked in the MBE for around 4-5m.   Next time I'll bake in the home oven. 

Chau
 

[Essen1]

Thanks Norma & Paul.  Crust was a variation of my recent efforts.   Not exactly Di fara but similar. 

100% flour (50/50 blend of HG bromated flour and caputo pizzeria 00)
67% water
2.2% salt
0.05% IDY
2% oil (EVOO)

Minimally kneaded, bulked 10 hours at 75F, divided and balled, proofed for 6 hours.  Baked in the MBE for around 4-5m.   Next time I'll bake in the home oven. 

Chau
 

Chau,

Can you provide us with the baking temp?

I think DiFara bakes somewhere around 650°F to 700°F from what I've read. I'm also curious to see how a pie would turn out in your MBE that has received only a two or perhaps three hour proofing. I think that that might get you closer to the real deal in terms of DiFara.

Thanks, Bro.

[Jackie Tran]

Chau,

Can you provide us with the baking temp?

I think DiFara bakes somewhere around 650°F to 700°F from what I've read. I'm also curious to see how a pie would turn out in your MBE that has received only a two or perhaps three hour proofing. I think that that might get you closer to the real deal in terms of DiFara.

Thanks, Bro.

Mike, I purposefully avoided the temp question b/c as you know the bake and temps in the MBE/LBE aren't really typical.  If I measure the temp with a thermogun and aim it center of the stone, I would get one temp.  If I move that spot 1" closer or further away from center (or further away from the rear heat source) I might get a very different temp.  Having said that, this bake was done with a hearth temp of ~550F and the pies baked around 4-5m.  It's impossible for me to bake a pie for 8min in the MBE at these temps.  The crust would be burnt to a crisp.   

For this particular bake, I was "inspired" to stylize these pies at the last moment and used a few of my doughballs I had fermenting already.  I'm a big fan of same day 6-8h "emergency" doughs.   Since, I haven't made any 2-3h doughs in a long time, this would be a great time to revisit them.   I'll do it soon and post the results in Peter's reverse engineering difara's pizza thread as to not further derail this one.  I'll also work off of one of Peter's recipe so I can get a closer to authentic result.   

Chau

[Essen1]

Chau,

Thanks for the explanation. I know what you are talking about in terms of taking an accurate temp reading in the MBE/LBE oven.

Looking forward to what you come up with regarding the short proofing window.

[Matthew]

My sourdough version of Difara

[BrickStoneOven]

Nice, those are gigantic slices.

[chickenparm]

Matt,
Those look fantastic!